


Golden hair, shattered dreams

by stephanieebrown



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DC Bombshells, DCU
Genre: Ambiguous Character Death, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Swearing, but not really, nsfw-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 10:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4826207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephanieebrown/pseuds/stephanieebrown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>DC Bombshells AU where Jason Todd gets drafted in the war but the hardest part isn’t fighting for his life in western Europe, it’s saying goodbye to his sweetheart, Stephanie Brown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Golden hair, shattered dreams

The tobacco is bittersweet in his throat and clogs up his lungs with the familiar, tart burn. With a long, low breath, Jason exhales the smoke in a thick grey plume into the night air. The heavy smog of Gotham lingers, forever omnipresent, and Jason can smell it and taste it and even hear it – a sluggish churning of the river, the muffled yells and shouts of violent youth.

It’s lighter tonight though, sweeter even, which is fucking ironic because this may be the last time Jason ever see’s this godforsaken trash dump. He never expected to be drafted into the war. Dick, he’d thought, for sure – he’s a goodie-goodie cop with natural athleticism and is adored by many. _Maybe that’s just it_ , he thinks wryly, _they send the rejects, the good-for-nothings to die so that when the war is over the economy doesn’t suffer as much_. ‘Bullshit’ is what Dick had said to that but Jason could see the doubt, the _fear,_ behind his pseudo-brother’s eyes. _Collateral damage,_ he’d called himself.

Fucking Bullshit indeed.

The terrible thing is, and this really takes the damn biscuit, Jason is finally, _finally_ happy. He’s gone from a car-jacking punk kid to a fairly decent mechanic at a well-respected garage in a nicer part of Gotham. And by ‘nicer’ he means _any other place other than Park Row and the Narrows._ Dick had helped him out a bunch. They’d met a few years ago after Jason was arrested for assault (he’d punched a would-be rapist damn it, he should’ve been rewarded!) and Dick had been the cop who’d read him his rights.

From then on, Dick had helped him, despite Jason’s insistence for him to _go away,_ get himself back on his feet. He got him a job at the garage after putting in a good word for him, and had introduced him to his girl, who is Dick’s friend and had previously been dating another one of his pseudo-brothers. (Jason sometimes wonders how many ‘brothers’ Dick has but he doesn’t ask.)

Jason’s girl is the finest young woman he’s ever met and he’s at a loss at what he’d do without her. Stephanie Brown is gorgeous, with bright golden hair, which she loves to wear in curls, and could-kill-a-man thighs which, of course, Jason can proudly say he is one of a select few to have seen, _touched,_ as she usually hides them beneath the vast array of purple swing dresses that she owns. Stephanie is funny and kind and shares Jason’s street-smarts, having grown up similarly.

She’s a goddess among mortals and Jason doesn’t know what the hell he’s ever done to deserve her.

The bright lights and merry din of Amusement Mile wash over him. He can hear children laughing, smell the cotton candy and taste the sea salt in the air. He dare not look up from his withering cigarette though because all around him are boys and girls, women and men, walking hand in hand and murmuring sweet promises and heartfelt goodbyes to each other. With a quick glance around, he spots the magnificent Kate Kane, red hair flowing, with her lover, and Dick’s superior, Maggie Sawyer heading towards the Ferris wheel.

With a sigh, Jason takes one last drag of his cigarette before stomping it out on the boardwalk beneath his boot. He wishes he had a watch so that he could tell the time. Jason doesn’t know how long he’s been waiting but he can tell that Steph is late. He gets up from where he’s been leaning against a toss-the-ball stand and it’s when he’s stretching that he feels a pair of supple arms wrap around him from behind before covering his eyes.

“Guess who?” comes the familiar cheerful voice and Jason finds himself suddenly grinning despite himself, sour mood evaporating.

“Well gee, I don’t know,” he plays along with a smirk.

He’s suddenly whirled around, the hands over his eyes are gone, and Jason is now face to face with Stephanie Brown. Tonight, Stephanie’s hair is down and curls at the ends just above her hips and her dress is a deep, tempting red. With a smile, Jason cups her cheek and runs his hand down her neck and to her clothed shoulders. The fabric feels like velvet between his fingers.

“Oh it’s you,” he says, faking disappointment, “I thought it was my other girlfriend.”

Stephanie offers him a scandalized look but her eyes twinkle with mirth and she grabs his hand before tugging him into the throng of the pulsating crowd.

“You’re a mean guy, Mr. Todd,” she tells him with a twitch of her red lips and Jason laughs.

“But you’ll make a saint outta me,” he whispers to no one but himself. He still feels disappointment when Stephanie doesn’t hear him.

Steph is determined to do as much as possible on Jason’s last night in America and they go through as many stalls as possible. They don’t win much – they’re not really trying to – but after Jason buys Steph a humungous plume of rosy pink cotton candy, she drags him away from the stalls and towards the rides. They cruise through them all almost absently – the ghost train is particularly dull – but when Jason thinks they’re going to finish the night with a romantic ride on the Ferris wheel, like the majority of the other lamenting lovers, Stephanie pulls him in the opposite direction towards the Carousel.

“The horses have always been my favourite,” she says simply, her version of an explanation.

They are the only ones there this time of night so there is no waiting line. At first, the ride operator tells them that it’s one person per horse but Stephanie gives him _the eyes_ and sweet talks him into allowing them on together. Stephanie’s hand never leaves Jason, where she’s holding his fingers captive in a steel-like grip.

Stephanie instantly gravitates towards a pretty horse painted with white, gold and purple and Jason gets on first before her hoists Stephanie onto his lap. As the familiar Carousel music starts up and the ride starts moving, Stephanie leans back into Jason’s chest and closes her eyes. She looks so at peace, _so beautiful,_ and Jason doesn’t think he could love her any more than he does right now.

“Sorry for being late,” she murmurs against him, her voice soft like a lullaby, “I was with Harper and the girls in the workshop and didn’t notice the time.”

“S’fine,” Jason smiles softly.

“Can you guess who she saw today? I can hardly believe it myself!”

“Who?” Jason asks, curious, because Steph suddenly jumps up on his lap and faces him, her eyes brimming with excitement.

“Batwoman!” Steph practically squeals, “She saw The Batwoman. That’s amazing isn’t it?”

“Grand,” Jason agrees distractedly.

Steph obviously notices his lack of interest but she doesn’t bring it up and instead leans back down onto him and starts babbling absently about her day. She tells him how the new girl – Nell – is a proper Eager Beaver and how she nearly flipped her wig at a particularly rude customer for interrupting her lunch break. She gossips about how her friend Harper is currently doll dizzy and is head over heels for Steph’s honorary sister, Cassandra.

Before long, he Carousel slows to a halt and Stephanie playfully smacks Jason’s hand away when he offers to help her down from the horse. She jumps down by herself and thanks the ride operator kindly as they walk hand in hand towards the exit of the boardwalk. When they reach the edge Amusement Mile, where the boardwalk meets the streets, Jason turns to Steph.

This is usually where they leave things after a date. They talk, they dance they kiss and then Jason escorts Stephanie home to where she lives with her mother and Jason wanders back to the loft he occupies above the garage. The _usual_ ending doesn’t seem appropriate now though. Jason still feels like there’s so much more to say, to do, to prove to Steph how much he really loves her but his mouth dries up and suddenly he’s gaping like a fish. With a small, sad smile, Stephanie pulls him gently by the collar until he’s at a better height for her and kisses him on the lips.

There’s so much emotion in that kiss. So much sadness, so many could-have-beens and never-wills. It’s sad and it’s sweet and it’s achingly painful when Steph pulls away. Jason look at her for a second after the kiss. Her red lips are swollen and there are unshed tears gleaming in her eyes like never before seen stars. And Jason thinks, _Fuck this shit,_ before crashing their lips together once more. This time the kiss is harsh, need y and desperate. It’s full of passion and into this kiss, Jason pour every inch of anger and frustration that he’s felt since the letter of his drafting came in the mail.

It’s during the kiss that things get blurry. Jason can’t remember when that kiss ended and when they arrived at his loft but here they are and now Stephanie’s beautiful red dress is strewn across the floorboards. Jason would frown but the lack of apparel exposes everything he loves about Steph. Her curves, her scars from working in the workshop and living rough when she was a kid, and – _oh god –_ her thighs. Soon after, Jason’s clothes are on the floor too and they’re stumbling towards the bed in a mess of pale limbs and frantic kisses.

They have sex that night and it isn’t the first time but it might be the last and when Jason wakes up in the morning, finding Steph curled up under the sheets, her hair a golden halo fanning out around her beautiful – well, _everything,_ Jason makes the decision that’s probably going to make her hate him for the rest of her life. He dresses quietly so as not to wake her before pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, firm but gentle and oh so sad.

He leaves Stephanie then, walking by foot to the registry office here they’ll whisk him away to France or England or wherever the heck he’s going first. He doesn’t want to leave without saying goodbye but he knows that if he looks at Stephanie’s desperate eyes, he’ll never be able to let go. And it’ll be easier for her to get over anger than absolute heartbreak.

Jason might be a cruel man but it’s a cruel world.

And Stephanie Brown is far too kind to deserve any of this shit.

Months later, he’s on the warfront with a friend that he’d made during training, Roy, and when Jason’s gun gets stuck and he hears the spray of bullets increase in volume, Jason thinks of Stephanie Brown, back at home working with her friends, preparing machine guns to be shipped off the frontline where they will bring about the death of hundreds.

Stephanie Brown, who probably hates him for abandoning her but is _safe_ back in Gotham. There she has a future – if they win the war, of course (which they will, they _have_ to) – and a chance of happiness with someone who doesn’t have a criminal record.

Jason knows he’s going to die out here today and he hauls Roy’s sorry ass to the ground before he feels an array of entry wounds bury their way into his chest. He drops in a heap and despite Roy’s attempts to drag him to safety, Jason knows he’s not going to get up.

He stares numbly at the sky where the sun has broken through the clouds. The bright glare reminds him of his golden girl at home. Stephanie Brown, safe and sound and out of harm.

And suddenly, that’s enough.


End file.
